The explanation is easy.

Bentley, who had spoken contemptuously of Pope's Homer, said of Pope, "the portentous cub never forgives." But this was not all.

Bentley had provoked enemies by his intense pugnacity almost as freely as Pope by his sneaking malice.

Swift and Atterbury, objects of Pope's friendly admiration, had been his antagonists, and Pope would naturally accept their view of his merits.

And, moreover, Pope's great ally of this period had a dislike of his own to Bentley.